By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 12:35, Thursday, 26 July 2012

Crooks have impersonated a Cumbrian bank manager in a fraudulent attempt to sell the flat of his missing sister.

Chris Waugh

Chris Waugh, 53, of Stainton, near Penrith, was in London today to assist detectives in the hunt for his sister Carole.

Miss Waugh, an oil company executive, has not been seen since Easter when she attended a family gathering in Cumbria.

Since then substantial sums of money have been stolen and at least three women have tried to impersonate her.

A man posed as Chris Waugh at her flat in Marylebone, central London.

Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane, of the Metropolitan Police, said: “We know that there has been a man, who we haven’t as yet identified, who has been impersonating Chris who was endeavouring to raise finances and engage in the selling of her flat.”

Mr Waugh, a senior business manager for Barclays, said it was “a very distressing moment” to discover the conman had posed as him.

He said the family were “euphoric” at the Easter party and were planning a birthday celebration for his sister who turned 50 last month.

Miss Waugh, originally from County Durham, was able to work sporadically because she had been “very careful” with her money.

He called on anyone with information to come forward. Miss Waugh is described by police as “a successful businesswoman”.

She worked for Veba Oil in Libya for a number of years. Mr Waugh said: “We’re all very proud of our sister. We’re from a working-class background and my sister always worked to improve herself and to take the opportunities that life offered. She is very driven and knew exactly what she wanted to do.”

Miss Waugh last contacted her mother a week after leaving Cumbria on Easter Monday. A sighting of her in London on May 4 is unconfirmed.

Mr Waugh said: “Even when she was in Libya you would get a weekly or a fortnightly phone call to reassure everybody.”

His sister would go running late at night but reassured her brother there was nothing to worry about.

He believed she may have wanted to settle down and find a partner but does not know much about her personal life.

He added: “Ssister is definitely a private person and if you asked her in conversation she was very good at taking you off on a different topic. So you had to just listen. What we know are just snippets of information that we’ve gathered over the years.

“She certainly enjoyed living down there and she loved going out with her friends.

“What I do know is that she’d earned what she’d earned and saved what she’d saved, and the next part of her life was to perhaps settle down.

“Everybody’s looking for Mr Right and I do think that was on sister’s agenda. It was probably on sister’s agenda for many years.”

The initial missing person’s report, a “cause for concern”, was raised in May.

But when officers searched her flat they found “nothing untoward”.

Scotland Yard’s homicide and serious crime team were called in last Thursday as suspicions grew.

Police have made six arrests – four men and two women – in connection with the investigation. One man has been charged but the others have been released on police bail.

First published at 11:29, Thursday, 26 July 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk